May 18: Kasey Morgan

Even at work, Kasey is thinking about hunting…and keeping his eyes peeled for an opportunity to connect with game.

On a Wisconsin property planting spruce trees prepping for deer season, Kasey had been noticing a flock of turkeys that showed up in a BioLogic clover plot like clockwork between 6:00 am and 8:00 am. Not knowing exactly where the birds were roosting, he snuck back in and popped up a Muddy blind around 11:30 pm in an attempt to intercept them.

That next morning, in a bit of a role reversal, Kasey wielded the Winchester while Greg, who is usually in front of the lens, ran camera. The decoy spread of choice was three different Avian-X hens. Kasey had seen gobblers shy away from half-strut jake decoys earlier on in the season and was concerned that a male turkey, even a jake, might spook off the long beards.

Sometimes turkey hunting feels more like a game of “Whack-A-Mole.” You set up here, but the birds show up there. That was the case for Kasey’s hunt that morning. The turkeys flew down 800 yards away. Things looked hopeless.

With nothing to lose, he began calling aggressively and before long, three long beards broke and started closing ground toward the decoys. At 80 yards, they saw the Avian-Xs and began strutting their way in. Greg just got the camera up and recording as the toms came into range.

The dominant gobbler strutted his way over and mounted the lay-down hen just 12 yards from the blind. Kasey shouldered his Winchester SX3 and rolled the bird with a Winchester Long Beard XR load.

Kasey’s multi-tasking on the job led him to pattern these turkeys, ultimately allowing him to punch his Wisconsin tag.